


Summer Love

by Fangirllevelis9000



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Boys In Love, Boys Will Be Boys, Castles, Diary/Journal, Don't worry, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay, Gay Male Character, Idiots in Love, Inspired by Jane Eyre, Inspired by Poetry, LGBT, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Niall's a little shit, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Poetry, Prince Harry Styles, Princes & Princesses, References to Shakespeare, Romantic Fluff, Royal Harry, Royal Harry Styles, Royals, Royalty, Servant Louis Tomlinson, Servants, Shakespeare Quotations, Shakespearean Sonnets, Sonnets, Summer, Summer Love, The Author Regrets Everything, but not really, gay fluff, inspired by my ap lit class, inspired by shakespearean sonnets, niall the horse girl, niall the stable boy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28118658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirllevelis9000/pseuds/Fangirllevelis9000
Summary: Harry, Prince of Cheshire, is informed by his parents that he is being forced into an arranged marriage for the sake of the kingdom, despite him feeling no love whatsoever for this princess. She spends the summer before the wedding at the Cheshire castle, and she brings her entourage of servants with her to assist her. Harry finds that he quite enjoys the time he spends with her personal servant, Louis.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	Summer Love

“In the grey summer garden I shall find you  
With day-break and the morning hills behind you.  
There will be rain-wet roses; stir of wings;  
And down the wood a thrush that wakes and sings.  
Not from the past you'll come, but from that deep  
Where beauty murmurs to the soul asleep:  
And I shall know the sense of life re-born  
From dreams into the mystery of morn  
Where gloom and brightness meet. And standing there  
Till that calm song is done, at last we'll share  
The league-spread, quiring symphonies that are  
Joy in the world, and peace, and dawn’s one star.”

-Siegfried Sassoon, Idyll

The first day of summer carried a special nature with it, such that it was significant to any other day of the year. The sun shone down upon the earth with magnificent rays, so much so that its intense brightness could be mistaken for ferocity. The earth was wrapped in warmth, from the depths of the ground to the air of the sky. The trees displayed their shining foliage with pride as the birds of the air took refuge in their branches. The flowers of the gardens stood tall and gave their last hurrah before shortly succumbing to the enveloping heat.

The first day of summer was the most special day of the year for Prince Harry. Ever since he was a young boy, he treasured the magic of the first day of summer more than that of any other day. The first day of summer usually served as his first day of freedom after spending months of focusing solely on his studies. Every year, he would spend the day meticulously planning the numerous adventures he would embark on for the rest of the season. He could bring around his horse from the stables and take a ride through the woods, across the hillside, or even down to the lakeshore. He could agree to help the gardeners collect masses of vegetables in preparation for supper, only to regret it two hours and three blisters in. He could race through the halls of the castle with his friends without a care in the world, only stopping when one of them ran head-first into his mother. He could even spend his days under his special willow tree on the castle grounds, wasting hours upon hours staring at the sky and dreaming up grand visions for his future.

Though he wished it to be so, Harry could not make these days of careless, joyful youth last forever. For this very morning marked the first day of summer, and he awoke from his slumber with a strange feeling that this day would be different from all those that came before it. Not even the lovely songbirds serenading him from outside his window could shake his worried mood. He tried to carry about his day like usual, taking a long stroll around the castle grounds and chatting with Niall as he worked in the stables. However, nothing seemed to put his mind at ease. It wasn’t until supper that his suspicions were indeed proven to be correct.

“A what?!” Harry’s voice bellowed through the great hall from where he sat at the table.

“Harold! Do not raise your voice at your father.” his mother warned sharply. Harry let out a sigh.

“My apologies, father. But a betrothal? I’m only eighteen! Why does this need to happen so suddenly?”

“My boy,” the king spoke, “There will come a day when I won’t be around to lead the kingdom anymore, and that burden will fall onto your shoulders. It only makes sense for you to sort out who your future queen will be now, so that your mother and I can take time to work out an arrangement with one of the neighboring kingdoms.”

“But why-”

“Harold!” the king interrupted. “Now that you are eighteen and of age to inherit the throne, you need to show more responsibility as my heir. This includes having a wife to serve both as your queen and as an alliance between us and her kingdom. Every prince of your age must endure this, just as I did and my father before me. You must adhere to the traditions of this lineage if you are to be king one day.”

Harry let out a defeated sigh and hung his head. “Yes, father.” He chewed his food in silence for a few minutes as he contemplated his next response. Finally he worked up the courage to ask, "I take it you already have a princess in mind for me?”

His father sat up in his chair. “Why yes, actually. Your mother and I have agreed that the Princess Aria of Yorkshire would make a fine match for you. She too is eighteen years old, and she is the only daughter of the king and queen. A marriage to her would guarantee a bond between our two kingdoms that our predecessors have long desired. Yorkshire has long been known for its fishing and trading markets, both of which would bring a great share of wealth to our kingdom.”

“Well, that’s… wonderful,” Harry responded. He was having difficulty processing the information that he was hearing. It was so much to take in at once.

“I have already written to King Henry and Queen Catherine of Yorkshire, and they have agreed that this would be a suitable union. They thought it would be best for the princess to spend the summer with us, so that you two can become acquainted before you are married this winter.”

“This WIN- father! Why must this all happen so quickly? This poor girl and I are just barely of age and you wish to thrust us into your thrones in a mad haste?”

“As the heir to the throne, I thought you’d be taking this better, Harold. There is nothing mad about securing power for your legacy, and you would be a fool to stand against my attempts to solidify our kingdom. Princess Aria will spend the summer with us, and the two of you _will_ wed come December. You are _dismissed_.” The king fixed a cold stare towards his son.

Harry balled his fists, rose from the table, and walked out of the great hall seething with rage. 

The sound of his chamber door slamming shut echoed through the castle walls. Harry turned his back to the wooden door and slowly slid down to the floor against it. He thrust his head forward into his hands with a noise of despair leaving his throat. How he could possibly be expected to wed a girl he knew nothing about? He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that arranged marriages were common for royalty, but he hadn’t prepared himself for the fact that it might one day be his reality. He figured that, since he had such a good-natured and loving relationship with his parents, he would be able to persuade them into allowing him to choose his own bride for the throne. He would rather rule alone than be married to a girl whom he felt nothing for.

Alas, he knew his father well enough to know that he would not budge on a matter such as this. His summer would be ruined by Aria’s stay, and the rest of his life too for that matter. There was nothing that he could say to change his parents mind now. All he could do was grieve for himself and channel his anger into something else. Harry rose from his spot on the floor, crossed the room, and slumped down into his desk chair. He grabbed his worn journal from its spot next to the window and opened it to the page where he had left off. After dating the page, he began to scribble down all of his thoughts onto the parchment. Outrage, despair, and longing were painted onto the page almost more quickly than the thoughts came to his head. He felt tension leaving his sore shoulders with every charged line that made its way to the paper, and after some time, he finally sighed and put his quill pen down. Satisfied with his lengthy rants, he waited for the ink to dry and then closed his journal back up. Gazing longingly out the window, he sighed to himself once more.

As if the earth had heard his silent turmoil, a raven suddenly descended near his window ledge. Harry chuckled darkly to himself. “Right you were, Will. ‘By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.’”


End file.
